The United States and Canada will meet in the women's gold-medal hockey game at the 2014 Winter Olympics after both teams easily overcame the opposition in the semifinals.

For the United States, it was seemingly a simple matter of showing up to play against Sweden. Canada used an early barrage to go up on Switzerland before it too coasted into the final.

For the forgetful readers—these two have quite the history, as Canada beat the U.S. in the gold-medal game in Vancouver back in 2010. Since 1998, when women's hockey was introduced to the Olympics, these two have met in the final four times.

Olympic Women's Hockey Results, Day 10

Round

Result

Semifinals

U.S. 6, Sweden 1

Semifinals

Canada 3, Switzerland 1

Sochi2014.com

Women's Bracket

Round

Matchup

Date

Time (ET)

Gold-Medal Game

Canada vs. USA

Feb. 20

Noon

Bronze-Medal Game

Switzerland vs. Sweden

Feb, 20

7 a.m.

Sochi2014.com

U.S. Obliterates Sweden to Advance to Final

Matt Slocum/Associated Press

For a game that had a trip to the final on the line, this match was downright lopsided in every way imaginable, especially after Sweden looked competent in moving past Finland in the quarterfinals.

The U.S. secured its berth by upending Sweden 6-1. Even more eyebrow-raising was the shot differential, which favored the Americans by a 70-9 margin. American goalkeeper Jessie Vetter saved eight of the nine shots, with one finding the back of the net in the meaningless third period.

The Big Lead's Jason Lisk joked about the lopsided affair near its conclusion:

I'm still working out the kinks on the women's hockey win probability model, but right now I have USA at 110% to win.

Canada won the shots battle 48-22, with goalkeeper Shannon Szabados having a strong showing as she recorded 21 saves.

Gold Final Preview

Petr David Josek/Associated Press

Two historic rivals meet once more on Thursday in the gold-medal game, and one can look to the U.S. and Canada's preliminary match for an idea of what is set to occur.

In that 3-2 victory for Canada, superstar Meghan Agosta scored two goals in the third period. The United States had no answers, although U.S. captain Meghan Duggan tried to come up with one after the loss, via Kevin Allen of USA Today:

"If we play them again, we just have to fine-tune some things."

Words are short in this rivalry. Bleacher Report's Dan Levy reminded readers that the preliminary match was the best of any so far:

The Canadian women have already beaten the Americans in the preliminary round in the most hard-fought game of the entire tournament. Can Team USA get revenge on Thursday?

Perhaps. But expect nothing short of a gritty battle between two evenly matched teams for the gold. The all-North American final will once again decide bragging rights and more between two neighbors for the next four years.